Montferrat

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical region and former marquisate in northwestern Italy, known for its wine and for its role in medieval and early modern European politics
2. A former marquisate in the Piedmont area of northwest Italy, whose lands and rulers shaped the politics of the Italian peninsula
3. The name of a historic territory in northwestern Italy that was once an independent marquisate and is now known for its vineyards

Etymology: Montferrat is the name of a historical region in northern Italy, now usually written Monferrato, centred on a cluster of hills southeast of Turin. The English form was adapted from the French "Montferrat," and the French form is generally taken to come from the Latin "Mōns Ferrātus," meaning "mountain with iron." The Latin phrase is the likely source, though the exact reasoning behind the name is not certain. The place name is what the word means in English: it refers to the territory, and to the Marquisate of Montferrat that once governed it. Because the name is tied to a specific region rather than a general concept, it has no separate sense of its own to shift over time.